The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has established best practices for fugitive gaseous emissions measurement and management; however, cost-effective technologies for routine use in detecting and monitoring diffuse and point source leaks that percolate to the surface and into the atmosphere are relatively under-developed. While a number of emerging technologies are coming online, including differential absorption LiDARs, there are tradeoffs that pose challenges for operational use. For example, piloted aircraft can cover large areas and carry specialized sensors for detecting fugitive greenhouse gas (“GHG”) sources; however, this method is very expensive and dangerous, and, therefore, unviable for routine monitoring. Ground-based “sniffer” or remote sensing methods, including in situ sensor networks, typically lack the spatial coverage to constrain diffuse sources, and in some settings they are impractical or cumbersome due to terrain conditions.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a solution to overcome at least some of these challenges.